This year, high school students in New York are switching from the regular Algebra II regent exam, to the new Common Core Algebra II exam. Mathnasium Bayside has updated its test preparation curriculum to accommodate the new test. “We’re helping students prepare for all the new Common Core regents math topics,” says John Lee, owner of Mathnasium Bayside, with his wife, Julie Lee.
“Our mission is to make math make sense,” Lee says. Mathnasium instructors are not just knowledgeable in math, but they also can communicate concepts in various ways. Children may not understand the way their schoolteachers are communicating, so an individualized approach can really make a difference in students’ understanding.
Incoming students are assessed for their appropriate math level, and then Mathnasium’s goal is to fill any learning gaps to give them a solid foundation to understand current and future materials. “Math is cumulative,’” says Lee, and in school classrooms, teachers cannot go back and teach old skills that are assumed. This is why kids get lost and frustrated with math. “We teach those skills,” says Lee. “You can’t teach someone how to run before they know how to walk.”
Lee suggests students attend two sessions per week, each about an hour long. Sessions are generally semi-private; work is done in groups of no more than 3 or 4 students per instructor.
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